The Saga of the Long-billed Larks

Flowers of Paternoster:

The Long-billed Lark is a geographically variable species and I have spent many hours over vast distances to track down the 5 species in this group of birds.

Yesterday we travelled up to Paternoster from Cape Town to once again look for the sparce Cape Long-billed Lark on the Columbine Peninsula. It has eluded me on countless trips along the stretch of road from Vredenburg to Paternoster.

So I was so excited to hear a calling bird as we were edging along and I got my first view of the lark as it was free falling with its loud whistling call. It then obligingly sat on the fence, calling, while Fred crept up for a photo for the blog. Such a treat when a plan comes together, we were then free to have breakfast and a walk on the beach at Paternoster, before heading off to Darling to meet the family at Evita's se Perron for lunch and a show by the iconic Pieter-Dirk Uys. Special West Coast day.....

I saw my first Long-billed Lark in the Karoo National Park in January 2001 and looking back January seems to be a auspicious date for my larks - this January the Cape Long-billed is my first new bird for 2010 and last year the Agulhas Long-billed was my first bird for 2009 while out birding with Brian and Dianne Dawes!

Looking for these larks has taken me from the Karoo National Park to the West Coast to the Agulhas plains loop to the grasslands of Wakkerstroom and to the grasslands of Nambia. It has been journey indeed. Here are some of the photos that Fred took during the Big Birding Year showing the larks which, although similar, have distinct colorations and vary in size.

Agulhas Long-billed Lark, birding with Bri and Di along the Agulhas Plains Loop, January 2009.

Karoo Long-billed Lark, this photo was taken on the road to Erongo Mountains in Namibia in April 2009 with Callan Cohen and our group from Limosa.

Eastern Long-billed Lark, birding in Wakkerstroom with Lucky, Nikki and Geoff Twomey in March 2009.

Benguella Long-billed Lark, seen on the road to the Brandberg Mountain in Namibia with Callan Cohen in April 2009.

Post Script to the Big Birding Year

December has been spent at home with family and friends and at the same time tackling our renovation, so birding definitely took a back seat. In fact the only 'birding' was a visit to the Montecasino Bird Gardens with Dad for the bird show and I just loved the toucan, almost but not quite tempted to get back to the Amazon!

The Diederik Cuckoo call has been a constant companion during the long, hot summer days here in Johannesburg reminding me of our extraordinary year. I have not had time to miss being out in the bush but decided to end this iconic year with one last road trip by driving to our flat in Cape Town rather than flying. The plan was to target the pipits of Kimberley and the larks of the dry west, by no means an easy task.

I managed to access a bird guide when we arrived in Kimberley on Monday evening, as I must admit that I am no Faansie Peacock, pipits leave me stumped and my default for all sightings is the African Pipit! So there was no way I have the confidence to identify the Kimberley Pipit and I was pleased to meet up with Henry van Wyk who is a guide for De Beers at Dronfield Nature Reserve. He calls himself a pipit expert and took us to the south-eastern, Kalahari sandveld portion of De Beers’ Benfontein Game Farm, where the pipit is apparently quite common in the open gravelly areas around Benfontein's pan, such as in the vicinity of Wildebeestkuil waterhole. The experts say that very little is known about this species and I took the sighting on faith, Fred was not able to get a photo either, but Tarbarton's website gives some great pictures.

Back at Dronfield we found both the Plain-backed and Buffy Pipits and were able to discern some of the difference even down to the assertive tail wagging of the Buffy...

Well my new birding objective is to get my life list into the 700's and the two pipits from our early morning outing in Kimberley certainly made a useful contribution.Next stop Pofadder and the glorious vast plains of the North West Cape.

Nothing quite like saying we drove to Cape Town via Pofadder. Not a destination I would seek out, its a hot, dry and unremarkable small town, but we did see Damara Canaries right next to our accommodation. The Koa Dunes on the Namies road to the south west are the home to our next target bird for the trip, the Red Lark which is an endemic to the sands of Bushmanland. The photo above shows the red richness of the soil interpersed with clumps of spiky grasses.

Once again Callan Cohen's book, Southern African Birdfinder was invaluable, we followed the directions, spent a couple of hours among the glorious fiery red dunes and eventually found a pair of Red Larks. Fred managed to get a photo from a distance but its red back, white rump, heavy streaking on the breast are evident.









Beautiful Vistas of the Bushmanland